Hope for Today will inspire you to live a life connected to Christ by empowering you to fall in love with Jesus through personal spiritual growth. Teaching you the power of your identity and authority in Christ. Encouraging you in your inheritance as an ambassador for the kingdom of God!

Monthly Archives: February 2017

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This morning I woke up singing the song “Same Power” by Jeremy Camp. Specifically, these words.

The same power that rose Jesus from the grave
The same power that commands the dead to wake
Lives in us, lives in us
The same power that moves mountains when He speaks
The same power that can calm a raging sea
Lives in us, lives in us
He lives in us, lives in us

These words remind me of Romans 8:11. If you are a believer in Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior then HIS Spirit lives in you! The same Spirit Who raised Jesus from the grave. If you grab a hold of nothing else today, may it be the truth that the Supernatural power of Christ lives in you and you can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens you. Not some things but all things.

When our son was a little guy he was quite the curious boy. I spent a lot of time telling him not to do certain things. Not because I didn’t want him to explore, his curiosity is one of the things I love about him, but because his curiosity was usually about things that could hurt him.

There was the time we were getting out of the SUV and before I could tell him, “Don’t touch that!” He stuck his sweet chubby hand in the exhaust, yep, still has a scar on his pinky from that one. Or, the time when we were at the happiest place on earth and he decided to see if he could fit his head through the slats in the metal gate as we were waiting in line for a ride. Thankfully, another dad was there to gently help my husband extract our son from that predicament!

We teach and encourage our children about the things they should and shouldn’t do, hoping they are listening and will eventually pass down to their children these nuggets of wisdom. In the same way the prophet Joel was admonishing the children of Israel to remind all future generations of what turning away from God looks like.

This reminds me of God’s promise to bless a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep his commandments (Exodus 20:6). When we choose to love and obey Him, to seek out his will for our life and live accordingly, he promises to bless a thousand generations. PROMISES. Wouldn’t you love for a thousand generations of your family to be blessed simply because you love and obey him?

Pray in faith, thanking God for showing and helping you to love Him and obey his commandments. Thanking Him for the gifts of confession, repentance and forgiveness, thanking Jesus for showing you the sin and unforgiveness in your life and thanking Holy Spirit for always helping you to confess, repent and forgive.

Precious One, you have the ability to bless the generations. Will you?

The sun was just setting and dusk was upon us. We were home alone and settling in. We were in our house but it wasn’t our house and the kids were much younger than they are today. They were playing quietly in the living room. There was a knock on the door and I whispered to the children not to answer the door.

That’s odd. Our front door was a sliding glass door; when did this happen? There was a small space just wide enough for me to see out and there was a man standing there. Why was he still standing there? He knocked on the door many minutes ago, obviously no one was going to answer. What was that he was holding in his hands? Seriously, he’s holding San Francisco Giants jerseys? He had three; one black, one orange and one white. Did he really think I would open the door because of this?

He was menacing looking with dark hair and scruffy beard and a deep snarl. I could tell immediately he was evil. He tried to open the slider, which wasn’t locked but thankfully the stick we always put in the door track was faithfully in it’s place. I had my phone and immediately called 911 but I couldn’t understand a word she said. My heart was racing.

Suddenly, I woke up and realized it had been a dream. A spiritual attack dream. As my heart began to calm down I asked God about the meaning. He very quickly spoke to my heart, “There is a space in your armor.”

I use to have these types of dreams more frequently and they would freak me out, they are so real. Now I see them as God’s love, grace and mercy. I believe he uses some dreams to forewarn us about things we ought to take care of in realtime. Today will be spent asking Him how to shore up my armor.

And, isn’t it just like Satan to deliver a package special delivery containing something that is special to us? One of my best friends says when you receive one of those packages sign it, “return to sender addressee unknown”

God is faithful even in our dreams. While the door was unlocked the safety stick was in place.

Precious One, have you prayed on your full armor today? Ephesians 6:10-17.

There is a particular Bible software that I have wanted for a few years but because of the expense I have put off making the purchase. Every now and then I go to the publisher’s website, where I have an online account just in case, and dream about the silver level.

A few weeks ago I received an email from the publisher to download a very basic package for FREE! Well thank you very much, yes I will and I did. I’ve been exploring my way around and the other day I sensed Holy Spirit prompting me to look up the word remnant.

About five years ago, in a conversation with our Worship Pastor at the time, he told me that God had been speaking to him about a remnant. Before I knew what happened, remnant stepped into my soul and made itself at home there resonating through my entire being. Remnant is one of my favorite of God’s words. Whenever I come across remnant in Scripture I am always fascinated and intrigued by its original meaning and context.

So here I am with my very basic package of Bible software, did I mention dreaming of the silver package? I look up remnant in one of the search functions and out of all the definitions, meanings and original context this is what shows up.

¹Remnant (שְׁאָר, she’ar). A portion of people left after a disaster, especially a disaster identified with divine judgment. Especially in the Prophets, this term describes those who remain faithful to God despite suffering and who ultimately experience restoration. (Emphasis mine).

Ultimately experience restoration. If you’ve been with me over the past several weeks you know that God gave me the word restore late last year and has gently pulled me into a season of restoration emotionally and spiritually. I didn’t even know I needed restoration; that I was battle weary. But God. He spoke to my husband who tenderly and courageously encouraged me to step away from all organized ministry for a time. Within twenty-four hours of praying about this, I stepped away from co-facilitating women’s Bible study with one of my best friends and ministry partner, stepped away from the women’s ministry leadership team, put on the back burner another ministry position I was asked to lead and turned in my key.

I didn’t realize how much I would enjoy this time of rest and restoration. There are days that I feel displaced but Holy Spirit reminds me of the bigger picture that he has shown me. I know what will come to be but not how He will create all the intimate details, still I trust in his perfect timing. Only God knew five years ago the reason remnant resonated so strongly with my soul.

As I fell asleep a few nights ago I heard him sweetly whisper, “Trust the process.”

Precious One, as you remain faithful to God even in your suffering you will ultimately experience restoration. Trust the process.

I just spent two incredibly fantastic days at West Coast Christian Writers Conference. If you’ve never been to a writer’s conference I highly encourage you to find one and attend. Even if you have been there and done that, I still encourage you to attend at least once a year. Conferences are a great way to connect with other authors, find critique and support groups and keep up with trade news in an ever evolving industry.

Three tips to consider:

Separate your personal social media from your professional social media. The easiest way to do this is with your name. For example, my personal FaceBook name is Terese Ucci Belme. When I create my author FaceBook page it will be Terese Belme, as will all the other social media I will use professionally.

Know your way around each of the social media sites you use to promote yourself in terms of your stats; how many followers you have, how many hits your blog gets on a monthly basis, what are your top posts. One author told us she was approached by a well known publisher who asked her how many followers she had on a certain site and she told him the exact number and he said, “You’re right, I checked this morning.” Don’t pad your information, always be honest. Publishers, agents and editors will do their due diligence.

Whether posting to your personal or professional social media always maintain your credibility. Be the same person on your personal social media as you are on your professional media. I can’t stress this one enough!

I hope these tips were helpful. If you have other tips you’d like to share on creating a platform please feel free to leave them in the comments below.

There we sat, the room empty, except for one other man. The light was dim and dingy. Off in the corner the television was on and bleating louder than it ought to have been. She sat next to me doubled over in pain with tears streaming down her face wondering what was taking so long. It was 3:30 in the morning. The man brought my attention to the rain that had started again and the howling of the wind.

I sat feeling helpless trying to control the panic beginning to creep in. I closed my eyes and began to pray. I simply said, “Jesus we need you.” The door opened and we were called back. The man came right up next to me and followed us. Just as I was beginning to feel unsettled about this, he said, “I want you to know I was praying for your daughter.” With a relieved smile, I answered, “Thank you.” He said, “As a Pastor that is my job.” I thanked him again and told him there is something special about the prayers of a Pastor.

As we sat in the exam room engulfed by the privacy curtain, listening to the activity of a busy ER, I marveled at HIM. His lavish love poured over us creating a sweet perfume for our souls. Before I ever uttered a word in prayer, God had already answered and placed that Pastor right near us.

If that isn’t love, what is?

Precious One, God is ever close, his love knows no bounds and he is always listening to the sweet tinkling of your voice.